Top commercial real estate exec heads to CBRE

Gil Medina, one of the state's most visible commercial real estate executives, has joined CBRE after leaving his top-level post at Cushman & Wakefield's New Jersey operation.

CBRE announced the hire late Tuesday, naming Medina an executive vice president in brokerage services at the Saddle Brook office. Medina brings with him an impressive Rolodex of contacts from around the state and the industry. The former state secretary of commerce had served as Cushman & Wakefield's executive managing director since 2005, about three years after he joined the firm.

In a news release, CBRE said Medina "will focus on providing and coordinating integrated real estate solutions on behalf of corporate, governmental and academic research organizations," along with local and global business development across all service lines.

At C&W, Medina spearheaded business development for its New Jersey offices and cofounded its life science and technology practices, the news release said. He's also been a regular on the real estate industry's conference circuit and has been the public face of the company's offices in northern and central New Jersey.

"This is an ideal time for Gil to be joining CBRE, as his deep vertical expertise is a perfect complement to our broad service platform," Jeffrey Hipschman, CBRE New Jersey's senior managing director, said in a prepared statement. He pointed to Medina's vast network of relationships across government, big business and real estate.

In his own statement, Medina said "the role of the real estate services provider is changing," noting that clients want strategic advisers, rather than simple space solutions.

Medina is also a former vice president for Net2Phone, a telecommunications company, where he served after seven years under Gov. Christie Whitman.

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Joshua Burd

Josh Burd covers real estate, economic development and sports and entertainment. Before joining NJBIZ in 2011, he spent four years as a metro reporter in Central Jersey. His email is joshb@njbiz.com and he is @JoshBurdNJ on Twitter.